Chapter 20
The door leading from the stairway to Lacy’s floor was unlocked. The security cameras were easily avoided, but they thought surely there would be some sort of alarm or lock preventing entry. Nothing close to it. Pleasantly surprised, Walid and his men entered the floor undetected.
“The guard said down the hall, but that was from the elevator,” Walid whispered. “Split up. Find the elevator bank. Find Lacy. She survives, or everyone dies.”
The men all nodded and disappeared into the jungle of office hallways. Almost instantly, gunshots were heard at the far end of the floor. Men shouted, automatic weapons fired. The worst possible disaster had taken place.
Walid and his men dashed down the hall, no longer concerned for stealth, but he couldn’t understand how this could have happened. They had been so careful! To lose it all now made no sense at all.
As soon as he rounded a corner, one of his men grabbed him and pulled him into a row of cubicles. “They’re not firing at us,” his man whispered.
Walid ducked his head out, curious who had drawn their fire. To his surprise, his man was right. All of the guards were firing down the hall in the opposite direction. A single gunshot rang out from the far end. Then another. They were slow, and poorly aimed, but it was enough to keep the security at bay.
“Drop the gun!” one of the security shouted.
“Suck hot lead,” Lacy shouted back.
Lacy!
Walid launched himself down the hallway when he realized they were shooting at his love. There was something about the close quarters of an office hallway that made sprinting feel like warp speed.
The world blurred for him as he pulled the second blade to his other hand and dove at the guards. Walid’s men, loyal to the last, were right behind him without a word spoken, without a sound to give them away. The men had time to cry out as they died, but little else.
When Walid stood from the last of them, his daggers bleeding red, he saw Lacy poke her head around a corner. She came from around the corner, running for him, the gun dropping from her hand, forgotten. Walid dropped his blades and rushed to her.
They met, taking up one another in their arms like they couldn’t hold on tight enough.
“You came for me,” she whispered, her quivering voice full of disbelief.
“I will always come for you.” He pulled her face back just far enough to look into her eyes, to see her features once again. Drawing in a deep breath of her perfumed scent, he kissed her, then took her by the hand and led her down the hall.
As they left the building, there wasn’t a guard left. Walid had what he came for, and his sister knew it. He suspected she called the withdraw the moment the first gunshots were reported. That was her normal mode. Either total annihilation in a single attack, or retreat. It was a dangerous tactic, but brutal when it succeeded.
For Walid, he was just glad to have Lacy back. They didn’t speak the entire trip home. She sat beside him, her body pressed against his, her head against his chest. Walid held her in his arms, protective, loving, and stroked her hair. When he had her home, he took her through her house to her second, secret living room and laid her down on her comfortable, cheap couch.
There, in her safe space, it was as though the full weight of what had just happened finally crashed against her. She broke down, burying her face in her hands as she cried.
“I thought you didn’t want me.”
Walid held her in his arms as she cried. “That was never true. My want for you was unplanned, but truer than anything I’d come to experience in my life. There was danger, however, and I feared for your life.”
Lacy looked up at him, and he could see the desperate hope in her eyes. It was a hope that he was happy to know he could reassure. “You mean you were pushing me away because you were trying to keep me safe?”
“Yes. Absolutely, without any hint of doubt, yes. I am in greater love with you than I have ever been with anyone, or anything. If I thought it would have bought your safety, I would give up my whole empire for you. When I realized it was my sister competing against me, however, I knew that wasn’t possible. Even if I left, she would have removed you. You’re a threat because of how I feel for you.”
“I see,” Lacy said, looking down. “I don’t want to be a liability to you or put you in harm’s way. Perhaps we should separate, for the sake of our baby.”
“Or,” Walid said, and took her hands in his. “Marry me.”
Lacy looked up, shocked. “What?”
“I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life like I am about how I feel for you. Be my wife. Whatever life has in store for us, I wish to share it with you by my side as my equal and my partner.”
Lacy threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around him. “Of course yes.”
They were married a few short months later. Walid’s business was soon completed, though he had to take on a new lawyer while his wife was on maternity leave.
Walid’s sister had indeed disappeared, leaving no trace behind. Walid was glad to see her glad, but stayed on his guard for the day she would return to complete what she’d started.
For now, though, Walid and Lacy were happy, and would be for a long time to come.
The End